A Spaceship Crash Sparks Learning in Reception

 Hello Reception Families and Friends!

What an out-of-this-world week we’ve had in Reception! The children have fully immersed themselves in our Space topic, showing curiosity, excitement and some fantastic learning along the way. It has been a joy to see their imaginations take flight as they explored, questioned and created throughout the week.

A Very Mysterious Start…

Our week began with an unexpected surprise – a crashed spaceship discovered in the woods! This exciting discovery instantly captured the children’s interest and sparked lots of thoughtful discussion. Who did it belong to? Where had it come from? Was there an alien nearby? 

Next to the crash, a letter was found!

This inspired Reception to investigate our five senses, focusing on a different sense each afternoon. Are our senses the same as the aliens? What do we used our senses for? 

The children loved investigating the world around them using their senses and describing what they noticed. These sessions encouraged careful observation, descriptive language and confidence in sharing experiences.

Exploring Our Sense of Hearing:

When exploring our sense of hearing, Reception explored instruments and objects to make different sounds, guess what's inside the cup game, went on a nature sound walk and did a listening activity using our class headsets. 

Exploring Our Sense of Touch:

When learning about our sense of touch, Reception explored a range of sensory tuff trays with things such as, Ice, Cornflour and water, Jelly Bath, Shaving foam, Oats, dried pasta and frozen Peas. We aimed to encourage children to use adjectives to describe what they-re touching. 

Exploring Our Sense of Taste:

When exploring our sense of taste, Reception identified foods that are sweet, sour, salty, bitter and Umami. We had some absolutely terrific photos of children trying lemon! 

Exploring Our Sense of Smell:

When investigating our sense of smell, Reception explored perfumed flowers, "Smelly Socks", Herbs and Spices Smell Pots and real flowers.

Exploring Our Sense of Sight:

Chatter Bags

This week, Reception has started our first ever Chatter Bags session. Chatter Bags are inspired by the idea of “show and tell” and provide children with a valuable opportunity to bring in an item of their choice to share and talk about with the class. This activity has been carefully planned to support children with their Communication and Language and PSED.  Through sharing their Chatter Bags, children will be encouraged to: Speak confidently in front of others, use full sentences to describe experiences and objects, listen attentively and respond appropriately to their peers and develop confidence, self-esteem, and pride in their achievements.

 I am so proud of the children who stood up in front of their peers and shared an item they had brought from home. we had a lovely selection of things brought in from ballet clothes, hand written stories, souvenirs and even a prayer book. 

Thank You

Thank you for your continued support – it truly makes a difference. The children have worked so hard this week and should be very proud of themselves. We are so excited to continue our space adventure next week… who knows where we might land next! 🌍✨

Space Day:

Just to confirm, Space Day is on Thursday the 22nd of January. Children are invited to dress up as astronauts. We are also still on the lookout for boxed to turn into space helmets so please save any if you have any at home that might work.

Have a wonderful week,
Miss Godden and The Reception Team 🚀